Tuesday afternoon’s Marion Board of Selectmen meeting was the Tri-Towns’ first public meeting to be held entirely in person since the governor’s March 12 order to shut down public buildings due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On July 8, the Rochester Board of Selectmen held a hybrid meeting with members of the board, town administrator and town counsel in attendance, but with the media and the public linked via Zoom.
Other Marion boards and committees, which typically have far greater than the three members of the Board of Selectmen, will henceforth use the Music Hall.
Town Administrator Jay McGrail explained to the meeting that the Music Hall is set up to seat nine committee members at the table spaced at six feet apart and an additional 16 chairs for attendees. The Music Hall would be limited to one meeting per night unless they are scheduled at 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm, and in such a case a cleaning crew will sanitize the air-conditioned building in between meetings as it will after every use.
“Zoom is still an option for everybody,” said McGrail.
Which method for meeting will be decided by each board and committee. Remote access public hearings have been challenging, and McGrail is confident that the Conservation Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals is looking forward to meeting once again in person.
“If things change and we have a spike in COVID (-19 cases), things go back,” cautioned McGrail.
Tuesday’s Marion Board of Selectmen meeting, held at 3:00 pm at the Town House, began with action items presented by McGrail.
The first of those was an acknowledgment that the board wishes not to reorganize for the FY21 year as it normally would following a town election. Instead, Randy Parker will remain chairperson, John Waterman vice chairperson, and Norm Hills clerk. Hills withstood challenges to his seats on both the Board of Selectmen and the Planning Board in the June 26 town election and will serve three more years on each.
For the next year, the trio will also remain in its current liaison roles.
Parker will remain parking clerk and school committee liaison and maintain membership on the following committees: Music Hall Advisory Committee; Community Preservation Committee; and Marion Pathways Committee.
Waterman will remain with the Capital Improvement Planning Committee, the Southeastern Massachusetts Commuter Rail Task Force, the Parks/Tree Committee, and will continue serving as liaison to the Finance Committee, the ORR/Marion School Committee, the Department of Public Works, and the Police Union.
Hills will continue in his roles with the Affordable Housing Trust, Buzzards Bay Action Committee, Plymouth County Advisory Board, the Clerical Union, and will remain Marion’s representative to CMWRRDD, SRPEDD, and JTPG.
The board denied Tara Calabrese’s request to waive a sewer-connection fee.
McGrail pointed out that, although Calabrese’s is a private sewer line, the sewer water winds up in Marion’s sewer water and it wouldn’t be prudent to waive fees at a time when the town is raising rates “so substantially.”
Waterman said he always considered the hookup fee offsetting Infiltration/Inflow (INI) costs. “People need to understand this is not money we’re just putting away,” he said.
Hills said this denial would necessitate a change in the sewer rules and regulations. McGrail said he will check on the matter. “From our perspective, she’s hooking up to our sewer, direct or not,” said McGrail.
Hills said that the property’s septic dispute goes as far back as 1988 when the Marion Conservation Commission talked with the owners about its septic system and issued a rejection in 1994. Two years later, said Hills, the owners wanted to use the current lot to hook up and then, finally, the whole development. The late Ray Pickles, former town clerk, had written the owners a letter dated January 22, 1997, indicating they could hook up and also specifically identified the lot in question as one that should be hooked up. “And here we are in 2020, and this lot still has apparently never hooked up,” said Hills.
The Board of Selectmen made two appointments on Tuesday. Meghan Davis will fill the vacancy created by retirement of David Pierce with her appointment to the Mattapoisett River Valley Water District, and the board appointed Helen Westergard to the Council on Aging.
Meantime, the reappointment of members to committees and boards is being limited to those who have returned applications.
The fate of the Bird Island Restoration Committee hangs in the balance after not having met since 2008. After discussion, McGrail said the matter will be added to the agenda for the next Board of Selectmen’s meeting.
McGrail pitched a policy that he should be notified of all consultations with Town Counsel. Waterman clarified that this is for consulting purposes and not litigation, which requires select board approval.
McGrail said the existing policy almost matches his proposal. “I have no way of controlling the budget if I don’t know what people are doing,” he said, noting the impending problems of being out of the loop as to what Town Counsel is working on.
Before approval, Parker said he would like to take “a closer look” at the matter.
“I feel strongly about what I’m saying,” said McGrail, noting that the Marion Open Space Acquisition Committee should have been included on his list of affected boards and committees.
In his Town Administrator’s Report, Marion Town Party Committee canceled the event scheduled for August 22, 2020, but is hoping to bring it back in 2021. Parker noted his appreciation of the committee’s hard work.
In other business, Water and Sewer commitments were approved in the amounts of $3,867.20 and $1,515.40, and the board authorized McGrail to sign the closing documents on sale of Marion’s property on Atlantis Drive. McGrail indicated he will meet with Parker and David Willett on Monday to talk about the DPW.
A donation of $500 to Marion’s Fire Department from David and Victoria Croll was approved by the board, and the board also approved a $50 donation made by Heather Cotton and Heath Harriman in memory of Robert Zora.
If Sippican Historical Society moves to make its donation for Town House improvements before the select board’s August 11 meeting, it will require a special meeting of the selectmen to accept the donation. Otherwise, the next meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is scheduled for Tuesday, August 11. The board will also meet that day in executive session.
Waterman requested that parking regulations be put on the agenda.
Marion Board of Selectmen
By Mick Colageo